Publishers.

You mentioned on your website that you could provide contact details of publishers for selling games to. I'm interested getting in touch and selling games.

I've already written a game that I’ve played with my friends. The format wouldn't fit into any format at current (I'd describe it as semi-scripted!) though it could be adapted so I’m interested in both publishers after scripted and interactive games. Thankyou.

I just want your opinion on selling a murder mystery game.

by Ava

My name is Ava, and my sister and I wrote a murder mystery game for a library to put on for its summer program. My sister and I have been volunteering there for a long time and they usually buy a premade murder mystery game online, but this year they asked us to put a little story together. We wrote the story, the descriptions of the characters, and the crime scenes and we actually preformed it for about 50 people. It went pretty well; there was a little problem with the little handout that we gave out kind of pointing to the person that actually committed the crime, but I think we solved the problem. If you could just give us some advice about how we could maybe sell it we would really appreciate it. Thank you so much!

My response:

Congratulations - writing a murder mystery is hard work. Selling it is almost the easy part!

Anyway, I've written an article on selling your murder mystery game that should answer your questions - click here.

Selling a mystery game

by BB Jones
(Copperas Cove, Texas USA)

I wrote a murder mystery game that I would like to sell.

I have already played they game. It was a great success. I have been told that I should do it again. This is not my profession and I would like to write a new one, but I don't want to keep them lying around.

My question is, can I sell them? I put a lot of hard work into them and I don't want to throw or give it away.

My response:

Yes, you can sell murder mystery games that you've written yourself - and the best place to sell them is on the Internet.

However, it's not as easy as simply uploading your game to a website...

Publisher or go-it-alone?

I've written a series of three spoof murder mystery dinner party games set in Georgian times, based on the same set of characters in each.

They lean more towards comic effect than serious sleuthing, with clues and red herrings scattered throughout, including a very amateur DVD introduction and denouement.

Occasionally, the cast can be induced to burst into song if the way a speech is written reminds them of a familiar tune.

The first two have been performed and thoroughly enjoyed by a group of twelve friends, who now await their invitations to the third. The original one has been requested by a friend's friend, who hasn't done anything like it before and was intrigued by reports of an extremely enjoyable evening's entertainment.

I packaged the whole thing, with scripts,costume and menu suggestions, invitations, etc. into a box for her.

It occured to me that the project might be worth publishing, but having taken part in other murder mysteries, friends bemoaned the lack of a proper script, so mine have exactly that.

I realise that this does not conform to the format of any of the events I have attended.

Is there any mileage in approaching a publisher with this rather different format, or would I be better off trying to go it alone with a PDF version? Any advice would be appreciated.

My response:

Hi Margaret,

My advice would be to publish it yourself. As you point out, your game is very different to most of the existing publishers, and doesn't really suit their house style.

I do suggest that if you can, to begin with you keep your costs down by trying to package everything so that it can be delivered electronically - ie, downloaded over the internet. Creating physical products requires a whole lot of extra work and expense, and you can test the water relatively inexpensively by keeping things digital.

What are some trusted publishers?

by Emily

My name is Emily and I just tested out my first murder mystery at Halloween with some friends. We had a blast and I hate to see all my hard work go to waste in some box in my basement.

I want to sell my murder mystery! Your article was very helpful, thank you for taking the time to help others out! I was hoping you could suggest some trustworthy publishers, I feel so green about this whole process. If you could help me with contact info that would be great. Please keep in touch and thank you again.

My response:

I would definitely trust the five major publishers that I feature on my site: Freeform Games, Dinner and a Murder Mystery Games, Murder Mystery Games Ltd, and Mysteries on the Net. I have dealt with them all professionally (although not as an author) and never had a problem with any of them.

However, in terms of selling your game to them, I suspect their preferences might be different.

I suggest that you drop each of them an email asking if they accept submissions for games and what their submissions policy is.

As far as Freeform Games goes, I know that while they are interested in publishing new authors, they have a very specific house style. If your game doesn't fit that style it will need rewriting (probably a lot of re-writing). So if I were you I'd concentrate on those publishers that already publish similar games to the one you've written.

Publishing Murder Mystery games

by Rich

My friend and I have just completed an original murder mystery based on a model that has heretofore gone unpioneered by the murder mystery industry (at least that I know of) and we are looking for people who may read it and give us feedback on it. You seem to be quite a veteran in this industry and I was wondering if you would like to take a look at it for us?

My response:

I'd be happy to look at your game (and I must admit that I'm intrigued to see a game in a completely new format).

To get in touch, please use my contact form here. I'll then get back in touch.

The only thing I warn you is that I have a fairly busy life (this website isn't the only thing I do) so I make no guarantees about how quickly I can turn anything around.

Advice on selling my murder party

I've written a murder party which follows the same rules of play as the "How to Host a Murder" series, and requires four female and four male players.

The theme could be described as "futuristic media empires." It features characters modeled after the likes of Rupert Murdoch and is set in 2050, thus having science-fiction elements.

The style is comical, scandalous and many of the jokes are reliant on very basic knowledge of current digital media (youtube sensations, Murdoch scandals etc). There are themes which make it adult such as incest and sexual taboo, but the mood is still light and silly, although political undercurrents are clear.

I have tested it multiple times and am confident it is a watertight plot!

The question is: who do you recommend sending this kind of work to if I wanted to maximize exposure and potential revenue? Please note I am based in Australia, in case any organizations do not represent international writers.

I have written a murder mystery and need advice

My husband and I have been running murder mystery dinner parties for a few years and our guests have loved them.

However sometimes the games have been a little confusing especially when larger groups are involved.

This year unable to find a game that I really wanted to do for New Year's Eve, I decided to write my own. It's taken 5 months and has had its first try out. The big test will be on New Year's Eve when people new to murder mysteries will be joining us.

Then I thought I would like to sell it. Can you advise on how best to do this?